Chapter Title: A Doctor That Never Sleeps
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Doctor Who and any of its characters, places and so on and so forth. This is written purely for cheap entertainment purposes.
Rory slowly came to, like being pulled through murky waters until you finally breached the surface where you could breathe in the fresh air. But instead of gasping for breath while he delicately opened his eyes he only groaned deeply. His body ached and he didn't know if it came from impacting with the hard ground or being tossed into the air from the spherical device. All he knew was that he felt sore all over. The harsh, cool surface he was spread out on certainly didn't help matters either.
"Amy?" he croaked. He turned his head slowly to the right and relief instantly swept through him as he spotted his wife lying by his side. Her head was turned away from him and she wasn't moving at first.
"Amy?" he tried again and was rewarded with an instant groan, not unlike the one he had just uttered only seconds ago. Her head turned and her red hair spread out on the ground like a ginger pillow, encircling her face.
"Ow ..." she grunted as she blinked open her eyes. She was looking up at the gray ceiling as she tried to get her bearings and then she turned her green eyes towards him. "Rory? Where are we?"
Rory gingerly sat up, hearing his muscles of his battered body crack and complain as he did. But the soreness had already started to fade and he felt more and more like himself as the seconds ticked by. Soon all of it would disappear and he could think clearly. He got a good look at their surroundings.
The place was made almost entirely of concrete, the walls and floor all a dull gray colour. Some of it had chipped away as time had passed and gray dust had gathered in every corner and spread out to cover the floor. No doubt it coated the back of their clothes as well. They had been tossed in a cell, where absolutely no furniture had been placed to make it comfortable. It was completely bare. A small, rectangular window with iron bars sat in the middle of the wall to his left, but no light shone in through it so Rory guessed night had fallen outside. To his right there was no wall, only a set of thick, rusted iron bars to keep them in. On the other side was another cell and through the bars Rory could make out another figure lying in the dust, their hands tied together by a pair of metal handcuffs. There was just enough light to make out the dark boots and blue bowtie.
"Doctor?" Amy had spotted him at the same time Rory did.
Her voice seemed to have an instant effect.
The Doctor gasped and his upper body shot up from the floor. "Pears!" He looked around confused until his eyes fell on his two companions across from his cell, looking at him questioningly.
"Ponds!" he exclaimed with a relieved smile. "You two alright?"
"Yeah, you?" Amy answered.
"Positively excellent. Except the recent nightmare about pears .. Disgusting little buggers. Oh, and my hands seemed to be tied together. Interesting," the Doctor said and examined his bound hands. "Your hands are free however, which means they know about me."
He tried getting to his feet, which proved a difficult endeavour with handcuffs on but in the end he clumsily managed to rise. With his hands secured, he patted down his coat with his arms to the best of his ability. "And they took my sonic screwdriver as well. Smart. I hate smart unless I'm the one doing it."
The Doctor moved to the bars and looked out in the hall, up and down as best he could.
"Doctor, where are we?" Rory asked. He had moved to the bars as well and both he and Amy now stood with their hands encircling each iron bar.
"Well, my guess would be a Parivian dungeon," the Doctor said while he manoeuvred his hands to test his bonds. They didn't budge.
"Thanks, we figured that out ourselves," Rory drily remarked.
"Then you know as much as I do, Rory. Saviour it. It doesn't happen often." The Doctor continued searching the dungeon with his eyes, looking for anything that could help them. But the iron cells didn't respond to pushing or pulling and without the sonic to unlock the doors there wasn't much to be done.
"Why have they locked us in here, you think? I thought you said they were friendly," Amy asked.
"They are ... for the most part. Perhaps something has them running scared, which is causing them to lash out. My guess would be it has something to do with the burned patch of dirt we landed in," the Doctor answered.
The sound of keys jiggling and a wooden door squeaking open stopped their little conversation.
"Ah, finally some answers!" the Doctor remarked joyfully as a flickering light briefly filled the hallway until shadowed figured appeared. They came closer rapidly, their boots echoing on the concrete floor. Three orange-skinned Parivians stopped in front of their cells. A man and a woman wore the same khaki garments as the guards that had attacked them earlier at the outskirts of town. Their weapons was at least not pointed at them but only secured at their sides. The woman standing in the middle however wore a slightly different outfit. It was still loose-fitting and flowing but it had intricate patterns of gold, silver and bronze sewed into the brightly coloured fabric. It looked more delicate and no doubt indicated a high-positioned leader. She carried herself proudly and tall and commanded an air of respect. Her blond hair had been pulled back from her face.
Her kind, brilliant blue eyes, characterising of all Parivians, landed on each of the travellers in turn until they finally rested on the Time Lord.
"Doctor," she spoke formally. "Let me apologize for the terrible welcome we have given you."
She turned her head briefly to one of the guards by her side. "Release them. They are not a threat."
The guards hastily followed her order and opened up for both cells. Amy and Rory gingerly stepped out of their confinement, still edgy about what was going on. The Doctor's cell was the last one to be open and as soon as he stepped out, one of the guards grabbed the metal handcuffs and starting unlocking them. The Time Lord looked at the still weapon hanging off the guard's belt with disdain.
The female commander continued speaking, her eyes never leaving the Doctor's face. "I hope you can forgive us our transgressions, Doctor. Parivia has been quite on edge lately and our Captain of the Guard reacted purely out of precaution."
The Doctor's handcuffs finished getting unlocked and fell away. He rubbed his wrists as he spoke, eyeing the leader in front of him with a curious gaze. "Yes, well, we did kind of pop up, didn't we ... Anyway, all's forgiven. You seem to know who I am, but I can't seem to recall ever meeting you. And I'm very good with faces, I'll have you know."
"Of course. I am Kharli," she responded with a kind smile that stretched the lines on her orange-skinned face. "Commander of Parivia. And as every Commander before me, I was taught about the Doctor. A man capable of changing his face but never his eyes, who came in a time of need and saved our planet back when we could not do so ourselves. A man with powerful abilities and a kind heart."
Amy flashed a smile. That sounded like her raggedy Doctor. The Time Lord sent her a quick look before returning his eyes to Kharli. "Two of them actually, not sure which is the kind one, never bothered finding out. Well then, Kharli of the Parivians, I do believe my companions here would like some supper if you have some."
"Of course. You must be starving," Kharli responded and flashed a brilliant smile at Amy and Rory. "Follow me."
Kharli and the two guards led them out of the dungeon, which turned out to be nothing more than an old gray building, hidden away in a dark alleyway. The alley led them out into the open street, lined with more gray or brown buildings that looked almost as torn and ramshackle as the dungeons with wooden doors and rectangular holes serving as windows, covered with only pieces of different-coloured fabrics that swayed in the wind. There was no light shining in any of them.
The streets seemed quiet with only a few Parivians rumbling about as Kharli escorted them through the town.
"So, what is this about a threat? Last time I checked, Parivia rarely makes enemies. Too far away from ... well, everything," the Doctor promptly asked. Amy was surprised he had managed to keep quiet until they reached open streets. He was clearly bursting with curiosity.
Kharli looked to be debating with herself whether or not she could entrust her problems to these strangers. She gave in rather quickly. The Doctor could have that effect. "It started with the burned nature. Did you spot the barren wasteland on your way here?"
"Big, desert-like circle. Practically landed on top of it," Rory commented.
"Then you have seen it. It appeared one day not too long ago. We turned in for the night with nothing out of the ordinary and when we woke up the reports starting coming in from wanderers. A circular, barren spot burned right into our land. We have had four Parivians gone missing. They left for water or to take a hike, no one knows exactly what or which direction they went in but they haven't been seen or heard from since. And on top of everything we are dealing with the warmest temperatures ever recorded on the planet and our crops have suffered for it." Kharli's voice was grave and the desperation and fear was palpable to all present. She did not understand and that clearly scared her tremendously.
"So they were never found. How long ago was this?" the Doctor questioned.
"6 days ago. The burned ground appeared 10 days ago. We've all been anxious since, which is why Vestor, our Captain, reacted so harshly when you arrived."
"Understandable," the Doctor muttered. "Foolish, but understandable."
They turned and twisted around corners and alleyways. It was easy to get lost and Amy already lost track of where they had been and where they were going, instead she just followed, vaguely listening to the Doctor and Kharli talk of Parivia. Her eyes drifted upwards where she easily spotted the white stars and three moons hanging in the dark sky. One star in particular caught her eye. It looked bigger than the others and shone brighter too. When she almost bumped into Rory, she stopped looking up and started paying attention to where her feet were placed.
20 minutes after they left the dungeons they stopped in front of building larger than the rest. It looked like a mansion and seemed newer and whiter than any of the others. Pillars lined the walls and had a large door with one armed guard standing in front. He looked up as they approached but when he spotted his leader he relaxed quickly again and only nodded as they went up the small staircase. He did however send a few suspicious looks at the Doctor, Amy and Rory as they walked past.
They entered a grand hall, a stairway leading up to the first floor and open doorways to both the right and the left. Kharli stopped and turned to her guests.
"I have had rooms prepared for you on the first floor to the right, in case you need it. The town market will open in a few hours if you can wait with your supper until then. Fresh food is always better. Until then I offer you my house to freshen up."
"Thank you," Amy responded.
"Now if you'll excuse me. I shall see you in the morning," Kharli said and with a quick smile she turned to the right and walked out of the hall, her two guards in tow.
The three travellers went up the stairs and to the right. The doors to their rooms had been left open for them to find. Two rooms opposite each other, an oak door leading into each. Amy and Rory began to enter one room while the Doctor remained in the carpeted hall.
"You two get some rest and we'll see each other in the morning," the Doctor said.
"And where'll you be going?" Amy asked suspiciously, stopping in the doorway.
"Of on adventure, of course," the Doctor mischievously smiled. "Goodnight, Ponds."
With that, the Time Lord twirled on his feet and went down the hallway towards the staircase. Amy and Rory looked down after him.
Amy turned to her husband with the question written all over her face. Rory simply shrugged. "Let him go, Amy. I'm sure we'll know if he does something stupid."
Amy pondered his words. Whenever the Doctor wandered off certain things did always tend to happen. But she could feel the pull of the king-size bed standing in the middle of the room as well. The thought of simply lying down and sleep sounded suddenly extremely alluring.
She sighed and only nodded tiredly. She and Rory didn't even undress. They simply collapsed onto the bed, snuggled up against each other and within a few seconds both breathed heavily as sleep took them.
It seemed to Amy that she had barely placed her head on the pillow before someone was shaking her awake.
Not surprisingly, it was the Doctor, standing above her with childish excitement shining out of his face. "Come on, Ponds! The sun is up!"
Amy groaned and blinked the sleep out of her eyes. "How long have we slept?" she muttered as Rory stretched beside her.
"One hour, maybe two. I am not entirely sure the amount of time we wasted in that dungeon," the Doctor casually stated as he tore the curtains away from the windows. The sun was well on its way to the high spot in the sky so there was suddenly plenty light in the bedroom.
"Only a couple of hours? It looked pretty dark out last night," Rory spoke.
"The nights here only lasts about five hours," the Doctor clarified. He went to the mirror in the corner of the room and started adjusting his bowtie.
"That doesn't leave much for sleep," Amy grunted tiredly. She was not a morning person and the Doctor's seemingly endless energy always got on her nerves whenever she was even a little sleep-deprived.
Satisfied with his outfit the Doctor turned away from the mirror and instead to her. "Actually Parivians are one of the few species in the Universe who rarely needs more than two hours of sleep."
"Them and Time Lords," Amy muttered.
"Well, who would want to sleep half their life away? How boring! Sleep is for amateurs and humans! Yuck!" the Doctor made a face at her. Then he clasped his hands together. "Anyhow! Who's hungry?"
The Doctor led them through the same streets they had walked on only a couple of hours before. However they ended up in quite a different place. The street suddenly opened up into a huge plaza where the town market, which Kharli had mentioned in the night, took place. Wooden stands were set up all around the square, big cloths stretched over both the stands and the ground to offer some shade from the burning sun over the heads of both shoppers and sellers alike.
The plaza was already buzzing with activity. Here and there several Parivians scuttled from one booth to another. They weren't the only ones there. With their carved patterns on their orange skin they were easy to make out and therefore it was even easier to spot the strangers. Aliens of all sorts and species bustled about; one that looked like a mixture between a man and a marshmallow, another which resembled a humanoid fly, a third one who resembled nothing Amy had ever seen before. A behemoth green creature, with its head all but melting into the rest of the body, almost crashed directly into Amy had she not jumped out of the way in time, practically tackling Rory in the process.
"Excuse you," Amy called after the creature, but it only continued to grunt its way through the crowd, much to Rory's immediate relief.
They spent the following hours browsing as much of the Market as they could. The Doctor spent almost all of it talking. Explaining the legends and stories of some of the items they came across, speaking of the food and drink they bought. There was so much to see and touch and every seller they encountered was welcoming and polite, their blue eyes sparkling with kindness. They were more than happy to share out of their own, personal tales. Every face fell however whenever they were asked of the current troubles. They all sadly reported the same things. The disappearances, the increasing heat and all the problems that followed with it. But none could speak of any solution or cause.
Eventually they found a quiet place to sit down for awhile while they enjoyed what the Doctor referred to as a juice but Amy couldn't for the life of her determine what kind of fruit was in it. She didn't think she would want to know. It was fresh and sweet and that's all she needed to know.
"That one," she said and pointed towards an alien creature covered with yellow and blue scales and peculiar clothing. She took a sip of her surprisingly refreshing juice and turned an expecting gaze at the Doctor. Rory was leaned back in his chair, barely paying attention. He had pulled out of their little game 45 minutes ago and was simply enjoying the relaxation of the market.
The Doctor only glimpsed at the creature before turning back to her. "That is a Regiusilian of the planet Slangicia. A terrible people. Always strangling one another for kicks and laughs. I went there once and I do believe that is the shortest time I have ever voluntarily spent on a planet. Fun fact about the Regiusilians, they mate using-"
The Doctor never got to complete his sentence.
Tearing through the tranquil noise of the town market echoed a piercing, terrified scream.
TBC